Cue May 19th....

Saturday, May 19th was our busiest Saturday on record!  Well, it seems so.  It is BRANDON'S Birthday, first of all....  We did start the day with his bday, but I'll share that later.

We had to drive Amanda & Maddy to ballet at 8:45am.  And, Sydney had a cheer comp at Taylorsville High. She had to be there at 9:30am, so after the hour it takes us to do hair and make-up, she and I headed south.

Mike stayed in Kville and took B to soccer and got Amanda to her hip hop recital dress rehearsal.

 I know this photo is fuzzy, but here they are waiting to perform.  Kellie and her girls came to see Sydney perform since we were semi-close to them.  We had a great time and went to lunch afterward and chatted!

 Here are Sydney's self-portraits while I was driving.....

Their performance was spot on and they won FIRST place again!  Sydney LOVES cheer and we are so happy to see her enjoying it! Thanks Kellie, Maddie and Emily for coming to support Sydney!!!

Next up: Brandon's birthday!

The weather the morning of Brandon's birthday party (the day before his birthday) was a monsoon!  It rained and it poured for hours!

 All Brandon wanted was a big bouncy slide.  We had it ordered and ready to come.  The guy called me about 10am.  He wanted me to make a decision on the slide.  It was pretty clear to me that he thought I should cancel the slide.

 It was hard to make a call at 10am about a 4pm party.  So, he gave me another half hour to think about it.  It still rained and poured!

 So, I cancelled.  

And then I scrambled to find something for these 7 year olds to do for an hour and a half!

 And 4:00 came along and it was sunny and beautiful!

 Luckily, these boys love soccer!  So, they played while everyone was arriving.

 Then, we built towers out of toothpicks, marshmallows, tootsie rolls and gumdrops.

 This activity took forever! I was so happy!

 Tanner and Will

 Matthew and Miles

 Nick and Andrew

 Then came cake, ice cream and presents! 

 When Sydney got home from cheer, she helped run the present portion of the party!

Everyone was so generous with their gifts! Brandon loved them all!  Then, the boys discovered the balloons.  The next 20 minutes were filled with them blowing up balloons and me tying them.

So, we survived! I was tired, but so glad that we pulled it off and that Brandon was happy!!

Sydney's 4th grade program

We've been hearing the songs being practiced around the house for a few months now.  Songs about Utah's history and people.  They are great songs and really fun to hear our kids sing.

Thursday the 17th was the date we got to go to the school and hear our darling Sydney perform the songs!  

But, this is how she looked the ENTIRE show!  She said she didn't like to do these programs.   I reminded her that she loves the songs, but it didn't make a difference.

 We tried to get her to look at  us.  No luck whatsoever.  We took Brandon's arms and made him do funny things just trying to get her to smile.  Nothing.  Joshua Harwood, our next door neighbor, saw Brandon and broke out into a giggle or two ;)

 After the program, Sydney wanted me to hurry and take her to her cheer practice.  I said not until I get a smile for a picture.  Here folks, is the best it got that night!

We love you Sydney! We are proud of your hard work during your 4th grade year.  You are growing into a beautiful and smart young lady.  We love little Syd Syd!

Say Cheese!

Look at those STRAIGHT pearly whites!

 Amanda got her braces off on April 23rd.  She only had them on about 11 months.  Beautiful smile on our beautiful girl!

And everyone around here starts posing when I pull out my camera :)

B Money - that's his rapper name :)

Last night, Brandon and Mike went to the Jazz playoff game.  Mike got his company's seats and decided to take Scott & Spencer, too.  The girls and I went to Amanda's soccer game in Riverton (they won by the way!)

Mike calls me just before tip off and said that Brandon gets to go 'Dash for Cash' at the end of the 1st quarter.

Seems Mike, Brandon and Spencer were trying to get a picture with the mini-bear (mascot) and the bear walked away. But, a Jazz guy was there and asked how old the boys were.  When everything was explained, Spencer was asked to 'dash' because he is older.  But Spence is pretty shy when it comes to that stuff, so Mike said Brandon would do it!

 Mike has a cute video that I'll try to download here.  So he goes out on the court and there is a 10 year old there, too.  They gave them 30 seconds to pick up the cash and stuff it in their shirts, etc.  B didn't quite understand the timing thing, but he did a good job! Then, they took them back and counted the money.

 He had grabbed $60 in 30 seconds!!!  But, then the sponsor - Zions Bank (thank you Zions!), evened both boys up and gave them each $200!  Brandon walked away with $250!!!!!

 Oh ya!  I was telling everyone at the soccer game and they were so excited!  My friend that I was texting asked me if he got to keep it and he does!  We'll put some in savings...he gave his friend, Spence $50, and we will let him buy himself something.  First thing he wanted to buy was sushi! We told him he doesn't have to pay for sushi...we do that.

Then, he wanted to pay for the bounce slide we want to rent for his birthday party and I said no, Mom and Dad pay for that!  Funny kid....can't come up with anything! I have a list a mile long :) Wonder if he'll give me a loan?

We are proud of you Brandon!!!

This morning he woke up and told me that he dreamed he was doing the Dash for Cash again!

Kindness

So, I decided after I dropped a 5 lb $10 jar of Adam's Peanut Butter and it exploded all over Costco's parking lot as I was moving it from my cart into the back of my Tahoe, to get my carpal tunnel fixed.

 Monday was the day.  Sad thing was that I wasn't on the surgery table until 4pm!  No food, water, gum, etc since the night before.  I was so thirsty! It did give me time to get the entire house cleaned and all the laundry/ironing done.  It was quick though.  I felt pretty good and was still numb, so we stopped by Amanda's soccer game afterward.  We saw the last 15 minutes of her game! They won!!

 The next morning everyone pitched in to help with making breakfast, lunches, tying shoes, dishes!  Brandon even folded the towels!  He was so sweet and so proud of himself for helping. He hadn't ever folded towels before.  I love him.  Ok, I love all of them!

The Primary gals brought in dinner on Monday.  Sydney helped me cover my hand and get my hair up so I could shower.  That night, I thought I was having major allergies, well, it ended up being a horrible cold! Boo!  Grahams sent cupcakes with their kids to piano (I taught 3 lessons Tuesday and canceled the last 3).  My visiting teacher, Jeni brought dinner last night.  So sweet and helpful!!  Nicole has offered to wash and style my hair today since I can't get my hand wet until Friday.  Lots of phone calls from sweet neighbors.  Syd is now home and sick and Amanda just texted from school feeling awful....can we catch a break?  I canceled all my lessons today and will be making them up on Friday.  Mike asked me if I'm done with surgeries now. YES!

I'm typing one handed and it's tiresome. So, one more thing...here is the mug Brandon made me while we were in st. george.  So cute!